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Letter: Allard pressed for more American oil deals with Kurds
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., pressed the State Department on May 1, 2007 to remove barriers preventing American firms from doing business with the Kurdistan Regional Government, according a letter obtained by Political Notebook.
In the letter, Allard praises the work of Aspect Energy, a Denver-based firm, to secure a contract to produce oil in northern Iraq despite the political barriers thrown up by the State Department.
As we reported last week, the State Department, in its May 25, 2007 reply, justified such barriers by noting that oil deals cut between foreign companies and regional governments could undermine Iraq’s push for a national, unified oil policy. The State Department later pointed to these production-sharing deals, including one secured with the help of former Congressman and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer for Aspect Energy, as problematic for the fledging democracy.
Allard’s letter also sheds some light on what executives Aspect Energy might have known of the State Department’s official policy against oil firms dealing directly with Iraq’s regional governments at the time the Denver-based firm was dealing with the Kurdistan Regional Government:
If the State Department was throwing up policy hurdles that delayed or impeded Aspect Energy’s ability to cut such deals — assuming, of course, that Allard’s letter is accurate — someone probably knew about the U.S. government’s official policy regarding such deals.
It’s also worth pointing out that Allard’s letter hits many of the same themes Aspect Energy and Schaffer have mentioned in defense of the oil deal. Specifically, the letter asks why non-U.S. firms should benefit from Kurdish oil fields instead of American companies:
Steve Wymer, spokesman for Allard, said in an e-mail he was unaware of any communication between the senator and Aspect Energy following the State Department’s reply: “I am not aware of any discussions the senator or our office had with specific firms or companies.”
Wymer told a national blog last week he was unsure if the senator spoke with Schaffer about the State Department’s warnings. And, as The Denver Post reported Friday, Schaffer said he heard about the State Department’s policy, “only second hand, through a Kurdish official during a 2006 visit.”
Even if Allard did not advise Aspect Energy or Schaffer of what he learned, the senator’s correspondence with the State Department certainly is yet another curious facet of this story.
*Allard photo from The Daily Sentinel archives.
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